Uma Parameswaran

We carry our ancestors in every gesture, every word we utter.

To remember is not just to recall, but to relive the pain and the hope.

I am neither here nor there, always in between, a bridge built of longing.

Forgiveness is the hardest journey we take, and it always begins at home.

You cannot plant roots in soil that rejects your name.

Every silence between us is filled with stories we’re afraid to tell.

The past walks beside us, not behind.

Do not mistake endurance for acceptance.

The gods we worship are shaped by the fears we refuse to name.

Mother says love is duty, but my heart wants more than obligation.

To speak is to risk being misunderstood, but to remain silent is to disappear.

I light a lamp for those I have lost, and for the self I left behind.